It’s not self-indulgence, it’s reform

THAT’S the response we are likely to get from Malacañang Palace if some of us have the temerity to ask why President BS Aquino moved the official commemoration of Independence Day yesterday to Iloilo City.

That’s especially so if the manner of questioning suggests that the decision appears to be an act of self-indulgence, whim and frivolity – as frivolous as his decision two years ago to move the annual commemoration of the EDSA People Power revolt from where it happened to Cebu City.

But still, we have to ask because to implement this unprecedented change in our freedom day celebration, we did not only have to move scores of government officials and military personnel to the new commemoration site. Government also had to move the traditional vin d’honneur ceremony to Iloilo, and had to transport members of the diplomatic corps, including the papal nuncio, there. What great state purpose is served or achieved by performing this enormous logistical feat on such short notice?

Not the most rational president
We have to ask because truly President Aquino is not the most rational and thoughtful person to serve in the highest office of the land. From his very first day in office, when he broke tradition by refusing to be sworn in by the sitting chief justice of the Supreme Court, up to today, he has been defiant, iconoclastic, insolent and capricious.

Indeed, the modern colloquialism “in-your-face” is very appropriate to describe many of the things Aquino has indulged in. The idiom, which originally came from sports, means “shocking, annoying, in a way that is difficult to ignore.”

We have to ask during this presidency, because we increasingly feel that, without so much as a by your leave, Aquino and the culture being fostered by his regime have unmoored us from cherished beliefs, customs and traditions. Certain acts once considered taboo have become permissible under this regime. Barriers are being shattered at a rate we have not seen. And the level of public greed and corruption now appears to have no ceiling.

What he means by reform
We have to ask, yes, but then we should also be prepared for the reply, that all these bizarre acts of the President – including the move of the Independence commemoration rites to Iloilo City – are but some of the many reforms that the Aquino Administration is implementing for the welfare and glory of our people and our country.

President Aquino can reply thus because truly many critics and journalists, myself included, have been pestering him to name or enumerate the reforms he has initiated every time he declares (for the umpteenth time) how his reforms have transformed this country, and how he is so concerned that his reforms are carried forward by his successor.

Aquino uses “reform” in his speech as often as radicals talk of “revolution.”

The great political scientist Samuel Huntington has suggested that reform is more difficult than revolution. Alas, he did not have the good fortune to meet or witness BS Aquino in action.

Here’s a glimpse of how Aquino’s mind works: changes such as transferring the site of a commemoration is a form of reform; changing who swears a president into office is reform.

At the Independence Day rites in Iloilo, he made it a point to wear his yellow ribbon pin, instead of the standard flag pin. That, too, is one of the reforms he has introduced.

The truth is, there are no real reforms that he can cite, unless we get generous and concede the following as reforms:

1. The Development Acceleration Program (DAP), which cost us several hundred billions of pesos and has been ruled illegal and unconstitutional by the Supreme Court;

2. The bribery of senators to impeach former chief justice Renato Corona;

3. The prolonged detention without trial of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo;

4. The indictment and trial for plunder of Senators Enrile, Estrada and Revilla; and

5. The proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, which would dismember the national territory and create a substate if passed by Congress.

Flouting the law
The truth is, what we have before us and above us is a president who thinks nothing about flouting the law, flouting the constitution and rejecting settled convention and traditions.

He does it all, because he thinks he can – and because he is the president.

But not for much longer. He will soon be the ex-president, 12 months from now.

That’s not a date which he can change as easily as he moved the Independence Day rites to Iloilo.

One of the reason the Philippines is in this condition is people tend to act like a herd of sheeps. People are afraid to think differently from others, or from what is not popular. With that, it limits perspective which otherwise could lead to new things or new ways. Inventions and discoveries are the results of the radical ways people have tried new things or new ideas. That is not to say that there is cost or sacrifices in doing new things or thinking new ways. The world would have remained stagnant, stale, and boring if not for people who are not afraid to try new things. Yes, it is safer to act in a traditional ways. To think that there is only one way of doing things is to develop a tunnel vision of reality.
Now, going to the celebration of Indepence day and commemoration of EDSA, one positive thing that can be said is it allows the people in Cebu and Iloilo that they are part of the Philippines, that it is not all about Manila. If I may hypothesize, and this is what I gather in my readings in the newspapers, the problem in Mindanao is that the government is Manila-centric, that other area of the Philippines are second class as far as the law is concern. This move could strengthen the solidarity of the country and diminish regionalism and isolationism which are causes of poverty. It give importance to those places of being the place of celebration of independence and commemoration of EDSA. Have you forgotten that Corazon Aquino was the centerpoint of EDSA? Would her son dishonour the memory of his mother?

The problem with this kind of reasoning is that the act itself only satisfies the need superficially, meaning that bringing a single event like this closer to the Visayas and Mindanao in the hope or guise of giving more attention to said areas is just mere repetition of what the governments have always been doing–paying lip service. There should be concrete moves, not symbolic, to truly show that areas outside Luzon are always included in Manila’s plans.One important way of truly doing this is by giving back a larger portion of the taxes collected from all provinces instead of just alloting 20% as is the case today. That epitomizes the tyranny of imperial Manila.

I really wonder if this moron actually believes himself when he talks of reforms he claims to be responsible for and how these have benefited the country and the people. I suspect that because he is so dense and shallow he does believe everything his sycophants feed him not realizing that many of these rah rah sidekicks of his are actually laughing their heads off behind his back. In Tagalog he is considered “uto-uto” and this will shortly become evident when they begin to abandon him as a spent and harmless figurehead in favor of the next moron. Dillon has started the move with his “advise” that pnoy give way to others it must have been shocking to many that the top sychophant could tell pnoy off this way but it’s the sign of the times as has been happening every change of administration. It’s amazing and also disgusting that the moron remains unperturbed then maybe again his inability to appreciate what is really happening due to his dense and shallow mind accounts for it.

A great commentary. I agree completely with the presentation of facts and reality. True REFORM is much more complicated than REVOLUTION. REFORM requires change in mindset, in doing things, in working on development. And, in as far as P-Noy’s claim of reform is concerned, there is none except the two V’s- Violation of the law and Vengeance for a personal concern. He has been playing and executing things like a child growing up and cannot do away with his childish antics. REAL CHANGE and TRUTHFUL administration are still what we hope for a pray. God bless the Philippines.

It’s truly unfortunate to have elected the most stupid and ignoramus President that the Phil. had ever have. It seems this is now the realization of what that old Chinese woman told Cory at Fujian province when she side-tripped her state visit to China NOT to allow any member of her family to enter politics because he or she will become the eunuch and would bring bad luck to the PH.

Indeed this BS Aquino is hallucinating about reforms. His imagined reforms cannot be seen or defined. What he’s imagining as reforms are bribing the congressmen and senators, breaking the laws and constitution, sacrificing the SAF44 for personal gain, bribing the media like inquirer and philstar and abs cbn; irrational behaviors. like this independence day change of venue, EDSA revolution, becoming CEBU revolution…etc….. can’t wait to get rid of this hallucinating and irrational president such that we can go back to reality!.

Mr. Makabenta: We cannot quarrel with the term you used to describe all that the Abnoy has done – “self indulgence”, because that was really what they were. His thoughts and deeds all come out of his whims, caprice, a superabundance of hubris, and insatiable greed and arrogance.

Due to his wild hallucination to win a Nobel Peace award, he had to concoct a BBL which will never make it to be a law, after the massacre of 44 SAF troopers sounded the death knell for it. That is the Abnoy for you. Primero, Yo, Segundo, Yo y tercero y al final, Yo. This is the way a mentally dysfunctional being thinks. There is no other reality but himself.

The most difficult thing for a STUPID individual to do is to reform from STUPIDITY. He is born a natural STUPID then there`s no room for improvement. Things he gets hold lead to destruction and problems he faces worsens. Instead of moving forward ,moves about. That is our situation now. We are heading to balkanization and probably to a failed state if we let this man go of his futile intentions. We dont know the real financial status of our country. We will just be surprised to see that the perfumized economic growth they are telling is totally an opposite of what is true, when he gets down come 2016.